


Mocha

by redredribbons



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Fluff, Other, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-14
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:00:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21794182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redredribbons/pseuds/redredribbons
Summary: Eddie works his first opening shift, and Venom is eager to help.
Relationships: Eddie Brock/Venom Symbiote
Comments: 7
Kudos: 66
Collections: Venom Holiday Exchange 2019





	Mocha

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wyomingnot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wyomingnot/gifts).



Eddie’s first thought upon awakening was that this couldn’t possibly be right.

The shriek of the alarm drilled through his sleepy haze. He rolled over and flailed in the general direction of his phone on the bedside table but only succeeded in knocking it onto the floor. Swearing under his breath, he stretched himself halfway off the bed in an attempt to grab it. With a grunt he tried to reach even further, just a little more, and he could slap the accursed noise into submission. Then suddenly the bed was no longer underneath him, there was instant of flailing into thin air— until a firm embrace wrapped around his torso and hauled him back up.

_Careful, Eddie._

The phone thumped unceremoniously onto his chest, retrieved by another tentacle. Eddie grunted out some approximation of thanks and pawed at the screen until the alarm shut off.

The time read 3:00AM.

Now that he was awake enough to process thoughts, Eddie remembered that the alarm was, sadly, not a mistake.

“God damn it,” he sighed.

_Too early, Eddie_ , Venom whined. The tendrils it had extended lazily retracted back into Eddie’s body. Eddie wiggled under the covers as Venom stirred beneath his skin to resettle cozily around his organs.

“Yeah, I know,” Eddie said, “But we gotta. Opening shift today.”

Venom’s only reply was a disgruntled growl as Eddie dragged himself upright and scrubbed his forearm across his crusty eyes. He flinched when his feet touched the chilly floor.

“C’mon now, if I’m up you’re up,” Eddie said.

Eddie shuffled into the bathroom to brush his teeth and attempt to make himself presentable. Venom usually liked having its teeth brushed also, but apparently not at three in the morning. It refused to muster even a single tiny mouth. Eddie smiled fondly at his lazy symbiote while he tamed the worst of his bedhead. Venom was no help whatsoever in the hair styling department, so Eddie was relieved it wasn’t interested in participating today. He could use a shave, but didn’t trust himself with a razor when he was still mostly asleep. The last thing he wanted to do was roll into work with bits of tissue stuck to his face.

_Wouldn’t let that happen. Would heal you_ , came an indignant but still sleepy reply from Venom.

“I know,” Eddie said, pressed his hand over his heart— Venom didn’t have any external limbs to touch, so that was the next best thing. “But we wanna start this off on the right foot, yeah?”

Today was the first time Eddie had been scheduled to open: the busiest and most stressful shift, but also the best tips. Working at a coffee shop was far from his dream job, but the intermittent freelance writing gigs weren’t bringing in enough to pay the bills. Eddie probably could’ve scraped by on his own, but it was nice to have a little extra so he could properly spoil Venom.

_Don’t need all that, Eddie. Just you_ , Venom said as Eddie finished dressing. A tentacle oozed out to pat him on the cheek.

“But we want to,” Eddie said. He knew how much they both looked forward to a nice steak dinner once in a while, or a day splurging at the local seafood market— things Eddie never even thought about in the wake of being (rightfully) dumped by Anne.

The moment Eddie stepped outside, Venom snapped to full alertness. The shift was abrupt, like a jolt of caffeine. The sun wasn’t up yet, and they were well acquainted with monsters that lurked in the dark.

_We’re the scariest monster, of course_ , Venom said.

“Top of the food chain,” Eddie agreed with a soft laugh.

It was chilly outside. Heavy fog turned each street lamp into a will-o-wisp. Eddie pulled hood of jacket up over his head. Venom unspooled from within his chest to form a thick dark scarf around his neck, brushing a tendril over Eddie’s lips in the process. He smiled and blushed a little, though there were no prying eyes at this hour.

The coffee shop was only a couple of blocks away, thankfully. Long commutes on crowded public transit aggravated Venom. Sensory overload and too many possible threats, it said. Eddie didn’t disagree. Eddie unlocked the door and entered the security code to disable the alarm, then took a moment to enjoy the darkness and silence: calm before the hurricane that would descend on the store when it opened at six.

Eddie checked his phone; he was a few minutes early but clocked in anyway. There was a laundry list of tasks to complete prior to unlocking the door, but thankfully last night’s closers hadn’t left him a mess. After hanging up his jacket in the break room and tying on an apron, he grabbed a plastic sleeves of to-go cups.

“Alright, babe,” Eddie said, “Let’s do this.”

I’ll help, Venom announced, and promptly extended tentacles to open the large storage refrigerator and grab several containers of milk. Eddie automatically tensed, a reprimand leaping to his lips; he’d been very, very firm with Venom about staying inside while on the job, despite Venom’s constant backseat driving and grousing about the inefficiencies of human limb configuration. Every shift was a never ending chorus of _two little arms? That’s it? You can’t make any more? They can’t get any longer? That’s the only way you can bend them?_ And really, Venom had a point. There were more than a few times, on busy days, when Eddie wished he had an extra hand or three.

But this early, it was just him and Venom. The other person opening wouldn’t clock in for another 30 minutes.

“That would actually be... really great. Thanks,” Eddie said, and smiled at the warm flutter of pleasure from the symbiote.

With Venom’s help, all of the opening chores were completed with time to spare. Dishes neatly put away, pastries, condiment bar, and napkins stocked, cups and lids stacked, espresso machines filled, beans ground and ready to go for drip coffee, chairs set out... everything. Eddie was impressed.

“See? You should let me help more often,” Venom said out loud, sounding distinctly smug. Eddie stared at the Symbiote’s rippling black mass, flowing out of his body like water, yet solid and tethered. Its face was all mouth— an even wider grin than usual— and Eddie tried not to stare too hard at all those teeth, the way Venom’s mouth worked to form words alien to it.

“You know I would if I could,” Eddie chided gently, “But how about we celebrate a job well done?”

There was a distinct thrill of excitement from Venom as Eddie reached for a cup and the pump of mocha syrup. Eddie didn’t have much of a sweet tooth and Venom wasn’t a huge fan of coffee, so this was an ideal compromise. He added a couple extra pumps of syrup for Venom’s sake, then pulled double the requisite number of espresso shots for his own. Almond milk was a bridge too far for Venom, so he steamed dairy milk into a froth and then topped the drink with a generous serving of whipped cream and chocolate syrup.

“Bon appetit,” Eddie said, extending the drink to Venom with a dramatic flourish, “Just remember this next time you want to talk shit about my cooking.”

Venom’s eyes squinted in delight as its tongue flicked into the puff of whipped cream, deftly scooping the cream into its maw. It went for the cup next, plunging its tongue to the bottom of the drink where the heavier chocolate syrup had started to settle.

“Ow! Careful,” Eddie hissed as some of the hot liquid splashed out onto his hand.

That tongue re-directed its efforts to lave across Eddie’s skin and soothe the burn. A tentacle plucked the cup from his hand. “Let me, Eddie.”

Venom lifted the cup to Eddie’s lips with utmost gentleness.

“I always take my coffee with extra symbiote slobber,” Eddie laughed. He knew he was grinning like an idiot and didn’t bother to hide it.

They shared the drink, with Venom alternating between plumbing for syrup with its tongue and carefully feeding little sips to Eddie.

“Not much more time, unfortunately,” Eddie said with a resigned sigh. This shift would be busy enough for time to fly— for him, at least. A different story, he supposed, for Venom, who’d be relegated once more to relative unobtrusiveness.

“Fine,” Venom gave a very convincing impression of a dramatic sigh. It slowly began retracting its mass into Eddie’s body, but not before a final messy slurp along the bottom of the now-empty cup.

“You know I always make it up to you. I’ll cook you something nice when we get home,” Eddie said. From outside, he heard the fumble of keys against the lock. 

_Your cooking still sucks, Eddie._

“Rude,” Eddie muttered under his breath, and tried not to laugh as he waved good morning to his co-worker.


End file.
